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Guest Character Profiles > Tom Quill Kane Felsinger

Tom Quill 2016
Siblings: Shay; Archie (Half-brother)
Occupation: Acquisitions Manager for Lassiter's Hotel

When Paul Robinson, believing that he was dying from cancer, sold Lassiter's Hotel to the Quill Group, he quickly changed his mind when he learnt that he'd been conned by twisted Dr Nick Petrides and wasn't dying after all. To oversee the transition, Quill had hired Ezra Hanley, who was later arrested for sexual assault, and Paul managed to use this information to blackmail Quill into selling the hotel back to him. Later in the year, with hotel manager Terese Willis in hospital, mysterious Shay Daeng arrived to fill in for her, and was later revealed to be the stepdaughter of Julie Quill. By the time Paul and Terese had realised her true identity, it was too late, as Shay had managed to uncover details of Paul's recent dodgy dealings with the council and the bank had seized his assets and sold the hotel out from under him - with the Quills swooping in and getting the property back.

Paul decided to rebuild his empire by buying a rundown local motel, but Julie was determined to destroy Paul and his new fledging business, by building a second tower at Lassiter's, and knocking down room prices. It wasn't long before Julie's stepson, and Shay's brother, Tom, arrived in Erinsborough to oversee the hotel acquisition. Aware that he had to do everything in his power to persuade Erinsborough's new Mayor, Sonya Rebecchi, that the new tower should go ahead, Tom set his sights on Sonya's executive assistant, Aaron Brennan. Tom treated Aaron to champagne and even bought him a pair of shoes, but Aaron quickly realised that he was being used, and that it would be unethical to accept the gifts. Tom, however, then claimed that there'd be nothing underhand about it, and that he simply liked Aaron and was trying to ask him out. Tom quickly took advantage of his blossoming relationship with Aaron, and asked if he could send him the list of objections to the new hotel tower. Aaron then reluctantly went behind Sonya's back, took a photo of the list and sent it over to Tom, who managed to talk them all into withdrawing their objections.

Tom's next hurdle was the environmental report, and when Julie arrived and started putting pressure on him, he had to use underhand means once again. After conning Aaron into telling him who was carrying out the report, Tom managed to get a copy of it, and after having dinner with Aaron, he uploaded a doctored, and far more positive, version of the report onto his laptop. Aaron dropped the report off for Sonya to read and, having only seen the original version, he was confused when Sonya was pleased with how positive it was. Aaron eventually worked out what Tom had been up to and confronted him, but Tom simply said that nobody would believe him, a former exotic dancer who'd had recent run-ins with the police, over a respected businessman. Though he knew Tom was right, Aaron decided that he had to tell Sonya the truth - unfortunately only hours after the council had voted to approve the new hotel tower - and found himself sacked for his efforts. Desperate to make things right, Aaron then managed to record a confession from Tom, who was subsequently disowned by Julie and taken in for police questioning. However, due to his money and family connections, he soon found himself out on bail, and particularly desperate to get revenge on his stepmother. However, when he approached Paul, thinking that he'd be a good partner in crime to bring Julie down, he was surprised to learn that Paul had already set a plan in action to destroy Lassiter's as it prepared to host the Erinsborough Citizen of the Year awards.

When an explosion then ripped through Lassiter's, traced back to the boiler that had been tampered with, Tom's hotel ID was found on the stairs leading down to the underground car park, where the roof had caved in. Tom was believed dead, and Paul was left as the prime suspect for the explosion, which had left Doug and Josh dead. Aaron then confided in ex-boyfriend Nate - who'd returned to town as part of the rescue crew at the hotel - that he'd had a run-in with Aaron and had punched him, leaving him lying on the ground in the car park not long before the explosion. Believing that he was responsible for Tom's death, Aaron was wracked with guilt, and began to panic when he started to received threatening text messages, saying that they knew what he'd done to Tom, and blackmailing him into leaving $10,000 by the old well in the Lassiter's grounds. Nate and Aaron went along with it, leaving an envelope by the well, but when the blackmailer turned up and realised that it just contained scrap paper, they tried to quickly leave, only to be caught by Nate and Aaron - who was shocked to realise that it was Tom. The police at Elliot Park soon caught up with Tom and he was brought in for questioning, but it turned out that he had an airtight alibi, as he'd been involved with a married man, who'd been waiting outside the hotel when Aaron punched him, meaning that Tom had been in sight of someone at all times, and wouldn't have had the chance to tamper with the boiler. Feeling terrible for the way she'd treated Tom before the explosion, Julie agreed to pay his bail and he was released - and he immediately went to find Aaron, accusing him of stealing $10,000 from his hotel suite, money that had actually been taken by teenagers Xanthe and Ben.

Over a month later, Tom got back in touch with Aaron, and said that he'd finally worked out that Xanthe had taken the money, as she'd delivered a food package from Harold's Cafe to his suite on the day of the explosion. As Aaron was managing Xanthe's social media career, he offered to talk to her and find out what was going on. Xanthe and Ben, along with Angus who'd stolen some of Ben's share, admitted to taking it, but also said that they'd spent almost all of it, and only had $1500 left between them. Aaron took that money and gave it to Tom, who said that it was interest, and that he was still expecting the full $10,000 within the next two weeks. But Tom soon had other things to worry about when Julie was arrested and charged with causing the explosion, and it turned out that it had been an insurance job gone wrong, and that she'd planned to pay Jacka Hills to damage the boiler. The $10,000 in Tom's fridge had actually been the payment for Jacka, which Tom had stolen from her office. When Xanthe's dad Gary was released from prison, he paid Tom a visit, and pointed out that clearly the money hadn't been acquired by legal means, or the police would be involved by now. Tom's silence said everything, and he then agreed that the $3000 that the kids had already given him was enough, and it was the end of the matter.

Tom soon found himself overwhelmed, as he was appointed as General Manager of the hotel, and ended up looking after little brother Archie, who'd proved to be too much of a handful for Shay, and was sent back from Singapore. The whole drama did bring Tom and Aaron back together, however, with their friendship blossoming. When Aaron then explained that his friend Amy was having problems, being blackmailed by her old boss, Ryan, when she worked as a sexy cleaner, Tom agreed to help out by giving Ryan a genuine cleaning contract at the hotel. This seemed to put an end to Ryan's money problems and he agreed to leave Amy alone. Tom then found a way to relieve the pressure at work, too, when he re-employed Terese, who'd been sacked by Julie in the weeks following the explosion, as Director of Operations.